Air Force Career #1

At the time I went into the Air Force, there were still many career fields not open to women.  I truly wanted to be a load master but was not allowed.  They didn't have any women flight crew at the time and those planes flew over hostile areas so that was out.  I was however allowed into my second choice which was jet engine mechanic.  I went in with a guaranteed job which was just beginning in 1976. 


Basic training was a hoot.  Just a mind game.  Again, at the time they were just beginning to integrate the men with the women.  Our "utility uniforms" were completely different from the men.  We were NOT allowed to shoot the M-16or have gas mask training and our obstacle course left out "the manly things". 


From there I went to Chanute AFB in Illinois for my engine training.  That's were things got a bit interesting.  We had about 400 airmen in various stages of training and there were only about 25 women.  It wasn't intensive training just really knowledge about general mechanics and tools.  At the time I did not realize it but I found out before I graduated that of the 25 women approximately 15 were gay.  This included my roommate.  She was extremely smart (an honor grad at both Basic Training and at Engine training.  She was one of my best friends as we went through basic together.)  Having never been around "gay" people, I had no idea what all the fuss was about.  The quickest way to get discharged if you didn't like what you were doing was to say you were gay.  lol
The women were treated differently in Engine Training.  We were the butt of many subtle jokes and the instructors were a bit condescending.  Of all the instructors, there was one female and she was a civilian.  She actually went in the other direction and favored the females in her classes.  One of the prerequisites on the career field was that females has to able to lift at least 50 pounds.  The first thing they did to us was test us on the weight limit.  The males didn't have to prove they could lift their weight limit.

I had no real problems at training except for the single instructors hitting on me.  I did date one on the sly.  We weren't supposed to but hey, whatever.  He could have lost his instructor status but nothing would have happened to me because I was the poor dumb female airman who didn't know any better.  He was never one of my instructors so that didn't play into anything.  I found out after I graduated that he kept a score card on how many trainees he could date and bed.  We lost several women from my class.  Not due to anything but they were found out.  We had 7 girls in my class and 4 admitted to being gay.  My roommate did not admit anything and as far as I know served her enlistment.

My Air Force Career #2

Before I go into my first duty assignment, a little background is needed.  I'm a military brat.  My Dad did 20 years in the Air Force also.  My Mom was a homemaker until my youngest brother started school, then she worked just to work and help with the finances.  My Dad ALWAYS worked two jobs.  He had to have a part time job just for them to make ends meet.  We were a family of 6.  I had 3 brothers, I older and 2 younger.  My Dad and Mom were really upset about me joining the military.  Most of the time my Dad was in, "good girls" didn't join the military except as nurses.  But, I was 20 years old and didn't want to be stuck in Massachusetts for the rest of my life.  I wanted Warm weather.  One other thing.  At the time I joined the Air Force, I was 61 1/2 inches if I stretched it and weighed a whopping 98 pounds.  Not the ideal build for a mechanic but I'm stubborn.  Indicating you don't think I can do something is like a triple dare.

I got the warm weather or should I say, HOT weather.  I was lucky enough to get my first choice on my "dream sheet".  Tuscon, Arizona, here I come.  I drove from Massachusetts to Tuscon in 3 days and 1 speeding ticket later.  Oh what we can do when we're 21 years old.

My sponsor met me at a truck stop to help me find the base.  You should have seen the look on his face when I got out of my car.  He was this pretty muscular dude and he looked at me like I was a foreign species.  He was a really nice guy actually.  He picked me up at my quarters for my first day at work and took me to the shop.  I walked in and you could have heard a pin drop.  About 20 guys and me.  The shop boss just shook his head.  He took me to the break room to give me a run down.  To get to the break room we had to go through the in-shop area.  There are two ways to work on jet engines.  The major work is done on the engine when it's removed from the aircraft; some work can be done on the engine while still in the plane.  Walking through the in-shop, I saw all kinds of women.  I guess about a third of the 30 or so were women.  Also, in-shop work is only done on day shift (7am to 3pm)

His first words were, "you're gonna be our experiment".  I thought okay, that's interesting.  The engine shop currently had no females working the flight line (working on the planes with the engine installed).  They were trying to accept that they had to appear to be giving females the option.  I was pretty excited.  I was gonna work on actual airplanes.  There was a lot of paperwork required to get me the security clearances and basic flight line safety.  I was going to be around planes with engines running, planes moving, all kinds of vehicles driving around on the flight line.  So, my first month at my new job, I ran the snack bar when I wasn't in training.  They didn't even let me work in-shop as they thought it would confuse me since flight line work and in-shop work were so different.